Mike Murphy, a hunting outfitter for 27 years, worries that his business and a way of life are threatened by a Forest Service proposal to bulldoze roads into the HD Mountains more than 34,000 roadless acres to clear the way for coal-bed methane drilling.

Bayfield – When snows drive deer and elk from the rugged slopes north of this town near the New Mexico border, outfitter Mike Murphy herds hunters into the HD Mountains.

The HDs, named for a 19th century cattle company, are filled with deer, elk, mountain lions and wild turkeys. The HDs also hold more than $7.5 billion in coal-bed methane gas already leased to gas companies.

Now, Murphy worries that a Forest Service proposal to bulldoze roads into the mountains’ more than 34,000 roadless acres threatens his business, and a way of life.

“There’s no question the HDs have a lot of gas, and I think the companies are going to get it,” said the 55-year-old Murphy, who has been an outfitter for 27 years. “But a road up every valley and every ridge is not what we want.”

For Petrox Resources Inc. and Elm Ridge Resources Inc., two companies holding leases on public and private land in the roadless study area, the HDs also are a valuable resource.

“It’s a huge asset for us,” said Mike Clark, president of Meeker-based Petrox, who estimates their leases alone contain 300 billion cubic feet of recoverable gas. “It’s a huge asset for the state of Colorado.”

Caught in the middle is the San Juan Public Lands Center, the joint office of the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management, which administers public land and mineral resources.

In 2004, the agency proposed allowing the companies to drill 283 wells from 211 pads built along 94 miles of new roads in the 125,000-acre northern San Juan basin area.

That proposal sparked a volley of protest – 70,000 letters, and opposition resolutions from the towns of Durango, Bayfield and Ignacio, as well as La Plata and Archuleta counties.

In the early 1990s, dangerous gas seeps along the outcrop compelled energy companies to buy and tear down four homes.

The federal land center scrapped its first plan and now faces a balancing act, says Mark Stiles, the center’s director: protecting the mountains, while letting the gas out.

The northern San Juan basin outside the Southern Ute Indian Reservation holds an estimated 2.5 trillion cubic feet of gas, worth approximately $7.5 billion at $3 per thousand cubic feet. On July 21, the price of methane from the San Juan basin averaged $6.42 per thousand cubic feet.

Coal-bed methane development began here in the 1980s and already has etched a network of wells and roads across southwestern Colorado and nearby New Mexico.

In Colorado, 276 existing well pads and 191 miles of roads and pipelines lie within the 125,000- acre project area, according to a federal report.

Stiles said the HDs’ steep and erodible terrain may make construction impossible in parts of the roadless area.

“We may set requirements that are so extreme that companies may have to decide whether or not they can justify drilling,” Stiles said.

Petrox and Elm Ridge executives said they intend to drill directional wells to limit the cost of building roads and well pads.

They are, however, concerned that federal officials will require them to drill horizontally through the coal with a new technique, advocated by environmental groups, that is risky but could significantly reduce surface damage.

“We’re a small company,” said Petrox’s Clark. “We can’t afford to make a lot of mistakes. You don’t do all wells like this at first. There’s a learning curve.”

Petrox is proposing to drill a horizontal well under land owned by rancher Bill Vance, who owns 360 acres of hayfields and forest on the HDs’ border.

Unlike many landowners, Vance also owns 50 percent of the mineral rights below his ranch.

“If they do drill, I hope they hit some gas – I wouldn’t turn the money down,” said Vance, 48. “But I feel the dangers definitely outweigh the benefit I could get from gas.”

With some 300 new wells proposed, on top of existing development, Vance and Murphy worry the country they love will be forever altered.

“We’re going to destroy the very things people come down here for,” said Murphy, a native Coloradan. “We’re like lemmings. We’re going to gobble up everything and then run into the sea.”